The New York state trial for Luigi Mangione, who is facing charges in connection with the 2024 fatal shooting of a UnitedHealthcare executive, will begin on June 8, the judge said in court Friday.
While he was leaving court Friday, Mangione said: "One plus one equals two. This is double jeopardy by any common sense judgment."
This outburst is the first anyone has heard from Mangione since his hearings began.
Mangione, 27, is facing several state charges in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, on the streets of Manhattan in December 2024. He is also facing federal charges in New York and state charges in Pennsylvania in connection with the case.
Judge Gregory Carro made the trial state decision despite pleas from defense attorneys that they are not ready and that they have a pending federal trial set to begin in April. Carro, however, told Mangione’s attorneys to be ready for the state case to go to trial in June.
"Luigi Mangione is being put in a terrible position with two different prosecutions. It is not his position to try this case in the middle of a federal case which is already set for trial,” defense attorney Karen Agnifilo said.
Manhattan District Attorney prosecutor Joel Seidemann, however, argued "the murder happened in Midtown on our streets, in our city," adding that the defense hopes to begin with the federal case so that double jeopardy would preclude the state case.
Seidemann said the Thompson's family, including his 78-year-old mother, wants justice and wants the state case to go first.
A trial start date of June 8 at 9:30 a.m. ET is nearly a month earlier than the July 1 date prosecutors requested in a letter to the court last week.
In the letter, Siedemann said, "New York State unquestionably has a deep interest in, upholding the fundamental right to life, maintaining public order, and delivering justice for a murder committed in its jurisdiction. Indeed, almost all murders are prosecuted in this state by local prosecutors."
Agnifilo and Judge Carro also had a back-and-forth over the trial date, with Agnifilo stressing that her team "will not be ready" by June 8.
"Be ready!" the judge replied.
Ahead of the Friday hearing, more than 20 supporters of Mangione appeared outside the courthouse, including two wearing shirts that read: "Luigi Mangione: Not in the Epstein Files" and "Everyone Has A Right to Due Process."
Mangione’s last-minute call to appear in court comes a week after a federal judge ruled that prosecutors cannot pursue the death penalty against the 27-year-old.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett also dismissed two of the four federal counts against Mangione: murder through use of a firearm, which carries a potential death sentence, and a related firearms offense.
Garnett also ruled that Mangione’s federal trial can use evidence that authorities collected from his backpack when he was arrested. He was arrested in a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania several days after Thompson was killed.
Authorities said Mangione’s backpack contained ghost guns, fake IDs, and a personal journal, where he wrote about grievances he had with the U.S. healthcare system. Prosecutors said that one of the journal entries suggests that someone should “wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.” Thompson was fatally shot just outside of where UnitedHealthcare was set to hold an annual investor conference.
